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I work for a big corporation and they use a 3rd party immigration firm which handles all our GC application.

This firm made a mistake in not filing the I-140 in time to meet the deadline and the follow up ''Nunc Pro Tunc adjudication'' was rejected. They have now applied the PERM application so I'll get a new priority date.

Can I file a lawsuite against this firm since I lost 11 months of my priority date because of their fault? Is this a reasonable case from my side?

1 Answer from Attorneys

The short answer to your question is yes, if for no other reason, than that anyone can sue anyone for anything. The more complicated answer begs the question, what will you get out of such a suit?

Legal malpractice suits are difficult to win, because first you have to prove that had they done what they failed to do, you would have gotten what you were asking for. Then you get into the question of whether the firm actually did something wrong. For purposes of this response, I am going to assume that the firm that prepared the application did in fact make a mistake that they should not have, if they had acted in a reasonable manner.

That's a big assumption. If you were to sue them, the next question is, what are your damages that you can prove you have or will suffer as a result of the firm's error? If the damages are not substantial, then no attorney will take the case on a contingency, and you would be unwise to pay an hourly fee to perhaps spend more than you will ever get back. So, before deciding what to do, you should evaluate what are your likely costs to sue and what are your likely chances of prevailing. To determine these questions, I suggest that you find a malpractice attorney, and even if you have to pay to consult with that attorney, it may well be worth it.

Last, in case I did not hit the nail on the head, you asked if this is a reasonable case. That is only part of what you need to ask. The other part is, what can I get out of this, if I pursue it? If you can't reasonably expect to get more than you will put into the case, then what's the point?